Here’s what a big film needs to collect Rs 300 crore in India

Shahrukh Khan’s Happy New Year and Aamir Khan’s PK are both potential 300 crore grossers in India. But it would take much more than just a earth-shattering opening for the two films to become the first to the 300 crore mark.

Below are some factors that we think are important for any film hoping to collect 300 cr.

Top male star: Like it or not, Bollywood is a star-driven male-dominated industry, and to an extent Khan-dominated too. Only the Top 5 stars in the country are currently capable of delivering huge grossers. Without them, the highest grossing film is currently Singham Returns (139 cr net, Dhoom 3 more than doubled this!). PK and Happy New Year both tick the first box, SRK and Aamir are in the Top 3.

Festive release and genre: The three most lucrative festivals at the box office are Eid, Diwali and Christmas. The highest grossing film outside the three festivals is Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (183 cr). Both PK and Happy New Year release during Christmas and Diwali respectively. Genre is important too, without mass-appeal, the audience in smaller theatres won’t come out to watch the film in theatres. Happy New Year has the edge here, PK will do extra-ordinarily well at multiplexes, but will the single-screen business be equally good? 3 Idiots also didn’t look a film that would appeal to the masses, but it did!

Record opening: Business on first day and the first weekend will be crucial too, because if a film can’t collect 100 crore or more in its first 3 days, it can’t cross 300 crore even if the trend is good – unless the appreciation is as good as 3 Idiots, of course! Out of all films that have crossed 200 crore, only 3 Idiots collected less than 150 crore in its first week at the box office. The Hirani classic collected just 79 crore in Week 1, but went on to collect 123 crore after its first week – something that no film has managed to do. Both PK and Happy New Year will take record opening, but the collections after Week 1 will decide if the two films can cross 300.

Which brings us to the last, but most important factor..

Positive word-of-mouth: Content is King. If a film isn’t universally accepted, it simply cannot cross the 250 crore mark. All the 200 crore grossers like Dhoom 3, Krrish 3, Chennai Express, Kick and 3 Idiots were liked by majority of the audience. Others like Dabangg 2, Bang Bang, Singham Returns fell well short because the response was mixed to negative. On paper, PK has a better chance here as Rajkumar Hirani is one of the best directors of the country. Farah Khan and SRK have done it before too with their last release Om Shanti Om, but the footfalls of OSO was much lower even if compared to a film like Chennai Express.

122 Comments

All these above mentioned factors r important.
In Sha Allah happy new is going to collect 300crs.
i think even in worst case scenario it will do 200 crs. but Allah knows best
farah isnt a bad director either..she has directed two of the most entertaining masala movie with oso having a patriotic touch too which can be seen in hny too……..fingers crossed.lets see what happens
all the best to shahrukh khan n team hny

Only HNY year chances to Collect 300cr in india as it has King of bollywood Shah Rukh Khan in the movie….and also SRK is coming with Masala movie and everyone knows well what happen when SRK comes with Masala movie……

PK may do well as well but it will be bec of Hirani + long free run… Hirani is the main hero of PK not Aamir…

this is the difference between a Chotu/insecure Aamir and a star/king SRK…

to enter 300cr club a film has to break 3I record of 120cr post 1st week.but now days thanx to smartphones piracy has increased even more so to do more than 120cr will need absolutely brilliantly wom.hope both hny and pk is able to generate such wom and open 300cr club

yup wom is very very important to cross 300cr still 300cr is very tough challenge. but I don’t think so hny will cross 300cr. even movie will not cross 200cr.
to cross 300cr movie need
excellent trailer like ghajini, d3, 3 idiots, kick, agneepath, dabangg, ce.
impact of songs like dabangg, ghajini, yjhd,Namaste London, oso.
promotion requires.
but all this happens when wom is very strong like 3 idiots, gadar, dabangg, munna bahi mbbs.

yes right.both hny and pk can hit 300 cr mark in india but only with having super positive response from general audience..
both should go past 150 cr mark with in first week easily nd it is necessity too considering the star power of srk and aamir nd with benefit of diwali nd christmas..
both film should appeal to all aged section of audience..

btw happy new year got “U” certificate from censor so it is the word go for the movie as it is a family entertainer with U certificate..
now only thing needed is the good word of mouth..

so best of luck srk hny fans…
meanwhile i m waiting for pk teaser also..so good luck in advance to aamir fans also..